- York & Williams – York & Summit – This is an important project, it is a pedestrian improvement grant that is in design phase currently and will include much needed stormwater improvements and new pedestrian crosswalk with bump out at Williams Lane, it will also include a much needed crosswalk at Summit Avenue. Definitely will help to improve pedestrians in Hatboro.
- RACP Grant for Borough Hall for a new heating and AC and Fire Protection for Hatboro’s most historic and beautiful structure, the heating and ac work will definitely be an improvement for staff and visitors, if you have been in there it is either too cold in winter and too hot in the summer.
- Walk Works Grant – this is for a 1.9 mile guided walk through Hatboro, there will be literature and signage guiding those to different points of interest while getting healthy by walking. We hope to get this off and running (walking 😊) once permitted and we thought a community walk maybe a great event to bring people together due to the COVID and also the events occurring.
- Miller Meadow Grant – the project has been awarded for phase one of the improvements, work should begin soon. Phase 2 of the improvements was submitted in April to DCNR for additional grant funding.
- UM/Hatboro Trail Plan Grant is done, both municipalities are set to approve in June. This is a plan for placement of trails in both municipalities and connectivity to others in accordance with the County Comprehensive Plan. This was a joint effort and it was a pleasure working with UM staff and different community members from both municipalities. Very glad to work with UM and once approve look forward to using the plan to seek grant funding and install trails in the Boro.
The YMCA property has been sold finally and Victorian Village will be in front of the PC in June for their Land Development application.
The Borough was approached recently by DVRPC for a new grant initiative they are launching called EXPO, it is an experimental initiative they want to fund in hopes of doing more permanent projects. Although our list of needs is long, we were told to limit to one only
Sadly we had to close our pool this year, this was a difficult decision but was necessary to protect the pool patrons and staff.
I was recently chosen to participate in a county economic recovery team that will meet to discuss and collaborate on ways we can share info and look to help others navigate the financial impacts on municipal budgets as a result of COVID-19.
I continue to spend time participating and reaching out to legislators to make sure Hatboro’s voice is heard and money from the government does come back to Hatboro.
Borough Hall is still operating under reduced hours and that staff is always available to assist outside those hours. Our PW staff is still working out of separate locations, this decision was made as we are a small department and if one employee fell ill with COVID it could have impacted the entire department. All services, hours of operation and locations will be revaluated as we move through the Governor’s phases. I want to thank all of our employees for all their hard work during the COVID pandemic. It was not easy at times, they were worried about coming in contact with others, worked in different conditions, but they all rose to the task and did it like they always do. We have a great bunch of employees who really care about Hatboro.
COVID-19 update, today we have had 27 positive tests and sadly lost one resident. Council continues to work very hard to keep the community informed. We have hosted several virtual town halls and there is one tonight at 6:30 PM. Please tune in.
All Borough meetings have resumed virtually.
Most of you may have seen the Hatboro Rock Project. Those rocks along with several communities signs and sights have been featured or will be featured in publications and literature by the University of Pittsburgh (walk works grant) and Montgomery County.
. Some things Stephanie she has been working on:
· Launched the My Hatboro platform
· Started the My Hatboro Merchants Group
· Worked with staff on the Hatboro Now Directory
· Working with County on new Hatboro Business start up guide for when Hatboro resumes full business operation.
The Women Owned Business Group has their first meeting today, this is being overseen by Kristen Ritter at Nourishing Storm, if you are interested reach out to her.
The newly formed Hatboro Business Recovery Task Force meets today. Please stay tuned for initiatives and news forthcoming from this group. Stephanie will lead this group along with elected officials, staff, Chamber of Commerce and business owners. This group will work to bring people back to Hatboro and also help with guidance on reopening. If you are a business owner and you have not met Stephanie or are not getting her weekly email updates, please reach out to her.
Some businesses have asked why the Borough could not lobby the Governor to reopen non-essential business. The Governor advised municipalities if they did not follow the guidelines they may risk loss of state funding. Some of the funding we receive, this list is not inclusive.
- $200,000 in Liquid Fuels money which is used to pave and maintain our roads.
- Grants,
- Pension Funding
- Insurance contributions
- Snow removal funding (even though it did not snow we still receive that money)
Thank you to our business community for helping the community. The signs posted we are Hatboro Strong, Love is not Lost, Kindness if free, the community dinners at the Dish, people helping the residents of Moreland Towers who could not go out, the sign in the window at the Dish honoring Sgt. Petrik, businesses embracing the change, I could go on. We are a great town.
I will end my presentation to give you an update on our Police Department. Sadly on March 30th I received a call from Chief Gardner, about the passing of one of our Police Officers, Sgt. James Petrik. Jim was a 21 year veteran of the department, he left behind his wife Lynn and his three sons, Jimmy, Jason and Justin. Jim served his country in the USMC (his son is following in his footsteps). I was fortunate to know and work with Jim and can tell you he loved his job, he loved his country, he loved his family and he loved Hatboro. He will be missed.
Current events are not making our police officer’s job easy. In March, the same day we all learned we were going to have to stay home, I joined Mayor Guenst and Councilwoman Ostrander in Harrisburg to see our Police Department and Chief Gardner accept the honor of accreditation. Our PD is now 1 of a 118 in the State who have achieved accreditation status. Accreditation is good, we have well trained police officers who are very disciplined along with sound policies and excellent leadership, you are in good hands in Hatboro. Mayor Guenst, Borough Council and myself support and back our PD 100 plus percent. They are a great bunch of guys who love Hatboro, the residents, business community and visitors. These men and women want what is best for Hatboro.